Average commute speed…

[slowmotion]

11 mph.

 

[summerdays]

I've only been commuting since March (around 6-7 miles on my hybrid bike, mainly using cycle routes), and haven't really been focussing on personal bests. However, I have kept a log of speeds etc. to see if there's an improvement.
I've been happy with the improving curve, but recently have noticed a drop-off - I'm wondering if the Winter is having an effect as it seemed to coincide with the temperatures and light levels dropping.

Winter commutes for most people tend to be slower due to various things including having to go slower to adjust for the weather conditions and also wearing the extra layers. Unfortunately the maintenance needed also goes up.

Going back to your comparison ... where do you park...? In a staff car park or do you have to find a space or pay for one?

 

[BSRU]

My commute to work on a bicycle is always going to be slower than by car because my bicycle route is four times as long as the car route.

 

[Andrew_P]

Winter commutes for most people tend to be slower due to various things including having to go slower to adjust for the weather conditions and also wearing the extra layers. Unfortunately the maintenance needed also goes up.

Going back to your comparison ... where do you park...? In a staff car park or do you have to find a space or pay for one?

I have a Suunto HRM that tries to give you a training effort rating, based on length of time max and average HR and a calculated EPOC value. My best time in July going home was 55 mins. calories 520ish Training Effort 2.8 (out of 5), yet yesterday it was 1 hour 1 min and yet 767 calories and training effort of 3.4, was not a really bad head wind either. This will be my first winter, and without a doubt it is much harder, and to be honest I cannot really tell you why.

 

[ianrauk]

If I was to take public transport to work it would have to be 1 train and the DLR (it used to be 2 trains but they merged 2 routes). Used to take about an hour and three quarters (including 20 minute walk to station. Driving it would take over an hour (slightly less in school holiday time) If I was to cycle the most direct route it takes 45 minutes.

 

[mgarl10024]

With regards to time, cycling for me is more expensive. I've often thought of the rare days of bringing in the car 'oh this is so easy'. Assuming you get in early (like me at around 745), you don't have parking issues and the traffic is quite light.
Car: 20mins each way - total around 40 mins. Let's say 50mins to be generous.
Cycling: 35mins each way. Locking/Unlocking bike: 5mins. 20mins extra shower (at work). Packing bags in morning (extra clothing, etc) 10mins. Getting changed at work to go home - 10mins. Weekly half hour of bike maintenance (5mins per day). Total: 120mins. Over double.

Going back to your comparison ... where do you park...? In a staff car park or do you have to find a space or pay for one?

When in the car, we have a free staff car park. Trouble is, there aren't enough spaces. If you arrive at 745 like me, you can pretty much park anywhere. If you arrive after 9, you can forget it. Work have secured a car park about a mile away with a bus shuttle service, but it's all a bit of a faff and can add an hour to your day easy (by the time you've fought back through the traffic you've just crawled through, then waited for the bus....) - so this leads to a bit of a war to get in early.

When on the bike, we have a bike rack outside of the main building but it feels fairly secure. On a good day it actually fills up, so we've been encouraging work to install a second one.

I did suggest to work about a scheme where if you didn't use the car park you got a tiny payment of 50p per day. This would apply to people who worked from home (which they encourage 2 days a week), people who car-share, walkers, bus users, and yes - cyclists. Would reduce the demand on the car park for not a lot of money. Largely fell on deaf ears though.